HEALTH SENSE
Animal-assisted therapy has benefits gait, behavior, or voice tone. In addition to the animal’s temperament and ability to handle to new situations, many therapy animal organizations require the human-animal team to successfully complete an evaluation with the focus on the human-animal partnership. Specifically, how the handler and animal interact successfully as a team in a variety of situations. Skills important to a successful therapy animal handler include these: • Handler’s continuous awareness of therapy animal’s emotional state
By Betsey Jacobs
E
vidence suggests that for over 12,000 years, humans have benefited therapeutically from interacting with other animals. Animalassisted therapy occurs still today in the context of several different areas of health care, including behavioral health treatment, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language treatment, special education, and recreational therapy. The American Veterinary Medical Association describes it this way: “Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is a goal-directed intervention in which an animal meeting specific criteria is an integral part of the treatment process. Animal-assisted therapy is delivered and/or directed by health or human service providers working within the scope of their profession. Animalassisted therapy is designed to promote improvement in human physical, social, emotional, or cognitive function. Animal-assisted therapy is provided in a variety of settings, and may be group or individual in nature. The process is documented and evaluated.” Owning a dog brings humans therapeutic benefits, and further evidence supports several benefits to people who participate in animal-assisted therapy, both mental and physical, including the following: • Decreased anxiety • Decreased feelings of loneliness • Increased mental stimulation • Reduced resistance to therapy • Decreased blood pressure • Reduced medications • Decreased rate of breathing • Increased hormones and pheromones associated with pleasure 42
ALASKA PULSE — February 2020
• Decreased agitation in patients with dementia • Increased social interaction among nursing home residents with dementia and children with autism Animal-assisted therapy occurs in a variety of settings, such as schools, hospitals, assisted-living facilities, behavioral health clinics and institutions, nursing homes, and prisons. Several therapy animal organizations exist worldwide, each with its own set of requirements. In order to become a therapy animal, the animal is typically required to pass a temperament screening, including adaptability to new settings, nonreactivity to strangers and other animals, receptive to affection and tolerant of petting all over the body, able to follow basic commands (if appropriate), accepting of people with atypical
• Proactive to maintain the animal’s comfort level • Immediately and successfully responsive to signs of stress in the animal • Appropriate interactions with the staff and patients, residents or clients Because life is unpredictable and each potential therapy animal visitation site comes with its own set of new sounds, surfaces, situations and sensations, a therapy animal team must be ready and capable of handling any situation. Fairbanks Memorial Hospital is lucky to receive visits from volunteers and therapy animals from Companions Inc. Therapeutic benefits extend beyond the recipients of animal-assisted therapy. Therapy animal handlers often report that employees of the sites they visit appear to gain benefits from the visits. Many therapy animal handlers have also described their therapy animals’ excitement in anticipation of visits and their animals’ pleasure during visits with patients. Betsey Jacobs and her dogs have been volunteering with Companions Inc. in Fairbanks for the past 15 years. They visit facilities such as the hospital, nursing home, and correctional center.
